your Bibles to Acts and be ready to turn pages quickly. Acts chapter 18. Okay so last time we had finishing up at Athens and so now after that occurs we have we're going back over to Corinth. Okay so now Paul leaves Athens, he goes to Corinth. Corinth is a significant city in Greece, a very significant trading hub, so Corinth is there. Paul gets there, he's by himself, he meets Aquila and Priscilla. Aquila and Priscilla are there, they're fellow tent makers. Paul works with them, he's making tents, and at the same time he's using the Sabbath to persuade Jews and Greeks. So he's seeking to communicate about the Gospel, to communicate about what the Scriptures teach. But there's this holding back. At verse 5, Silas and Timothy get there from Macedonia, and so Paul has reinforcements. And I emphasize when we get to this text, you see what Paul is doing before they get there and after, and he's giving great boldness when they get there. This is the value of the principle of concentration. in warfare, in spiritual warfare, the concentration of resources to work together makes it so you can be way more effective. It encourages boldness. It's much easier to be brave when you have a wingman to watch your back, right? And so we have this principle of encouragement and concentration, which is why the Lord Jesus Christ did not send out missionaries one by one. He sent them out two by two. And so the principle of two witnesses, two or three witnesses going out is emphasized here. So Paul After Silas and Timothy get there, he's, in verse 5, compelled by the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. So now, as opposed to just kind of doing pre-evangelism, setting things up, communicating in a way so that he's helping to get ready for it, now he's just going straight for the central message here that's going to result in either a reformation or a riot. And so when he does so, Justice and Crispus both get on board, but the church boots them all out. Justice is one of the rulers of the synagogue, or at least he lives next door. It suggests that he's either a caretaker or an officer of some variety. And then, so he's typically thought of as having been probably the moderator of that session. And then there's Crispus, who's the ruler of the synagogue, so he's also an elder. They both believe, and so The Lord comes to Paul. Paul's had an experience of a lot of riots and problems and beatings at this point. And so Jesus gives him encouragement and says, Do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent. And then he says, For I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you. For I have many people in this city. And so rather than being concerned about this persecution accelerating, you need to attack all the more. And so that's what he does. Now, One of the things that happened when Paul is communicating about the gospel in a synagogue, we have in verse 6, it says, But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, Your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles. So he goes to the Jews first, and then he goes to the Gentiles. He's going to the churches that are established first, and then going to those who are outside of the church to encourage reform, to encourage conversion. The reform effort first, followed by going to those who are outside of the church to seek to convert them. And so the reform of the churches, judgment comes first to the household of God. And that idea is consistently followed by Paul. Now, the The shaking off of clothes, remember, that has to do with the idea of a curse. Jesus talks about the idea of kicking the dust off of your feet, and you're pronouncing curse when you do that. And that being the case, you're saying, may God bring judgment to cause you to repent or to make it so that those who are seeing this will recognize the need for repentance. And so that calling of curse down is for the good of those you are cursing, because you don't know what the ultimate result is going to be. You want to see chastisement, and you want to see repentance. But God knows, and he's either using it for their good or for their destruction, and it's for the good of his own people and for his own glory. And so we see that over and over again when Paul is going through these cities. Now, having seen what Jesus encouraged after that, we see him to say, do not be afraid, but speak. Paul is there for six months, And in verse 12, Galio, who's a proconsul, so he's a governor from Rome, and this helps us to give us a good time stamp. There's a lot of, we basically, we know that this is between 51 and 52 AD. This is a valuable time stamp for us. The proconsul Galio provides us with a sense of the date of where this part is. So the proconsul Galio, the Jews come to him with one accord. Remember that one accord language? We've talked about that. So now there's the unity of the enemies of Christ. These are the Jews that have rejected Christ. There's some Jews there that accepted Christ, and they continued to maintain the prophetic witness of the scriptures. But the ones who rejected Christ, and thereby their church is anathematized. In other words, their church is viewed as being a false church at that point, because they've rejected Christ. These people in a false church, they rise up, and they talk about crimes and wrongdoing and so forth that's supposed to have been done by the Christians. And the response of the crowd at this point is very negative to the Jews, and that's because of the fact that there was now at this point a sort of a persecution of the Jews in the Roman Empire. So there's kind of this negative attitude of the Roman government towards them. Sosthenes, he's a ruler of the synagogue who did not convert or did not maintain the prophetic witness, sorry. And so he is beat up by the crowd. Gallio's watching the crowd just kind of riot and beat this guy and he just doesn't notice it. He just kind of ignores it and goes, all right, well then, no for the business, see you later. So, verse 18. Paul remains awhile. He goes he's planning to go to Syria. They there's a Sorry, I'm confusing something in my mind he's planning to go to Syria He has Priscilla and Aquila with him Remember he has he cuts off his hair in preparation for dealing with his Nazarite vows. He arrives in Jerusalem and he is He comes to Ephesus. The people at Ephesus want him to stay. He says, I don't have time. I've got to get to Jerusalem in time for the feast. And then from there, he's planning to come back. So he, at that point, gets to Caesarea, which is on the coast near, you know, near Jerusalem. He goes to Antioch, and then from there goes south to go to Jerusalem. It's not mentioned there, but he's told us just a verse or two earlier that he's got to get to Jerusalem. it's implied by what is said a couple of verses above. So then, verse 23 begins what's called the third missionary journey, because he stays in Antioch for a while. So the third missionary journey begins at verse 23. At verse 23, he starts that, and then he's starting to kind of move back towards the area where Ephesus is. And we have, starting at verse 24, this section about Apollos, And then at the beginning of chapter 19, we also have basically people who were disciples of Apollos. So these two sections are closely related. So at the end of chapter 18, remember Apollos is a believer. He's described as a Jew who was in Alexandria. He's an eloquent man is how it's translated in the English. The phrase a man of letters is a similar thing that you could say. So the idea that he's an educated man. He's cultured in other words. And he's also mighty in the scriptures. So he comes to Ephesus and he's been instructed in the way of the Lord. He's fervent in the spirit. He's spoken taught accurately the things of the Lord. but he only knew up to the baptism of John. So he knows about the baptism of John and John the Baptist's ministry, but he doesn't know about the work of Jesus yet. So Aquila and Priscilla take him aside after they hear him teaching and they tell him about what happened after John's ministry and about Jesus's ministry and the death of Jesus and the meaning of it. He takes this, receives it, And then he goes and he publicly argues with the Jews that had rejected Christ as the Messiah. And he tells them and he shows them in verse 28, it says, he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. And so there is another example. We have this consistent example of the Old Testament believers. If they're really believers, they then believe the testimony about Christ when it is given to them Jesus himself said if they believed Moses they would also believe me right so there's this ongoing element so then we in the beginning of chapter 19 Paul's at Ephesus and Apollos is in Corinth at that time so they're kind of in different places and Apollos was in Ephesus earlier So Paul's coming after the fact and he's engaging with some of the disciples of Apollos. And so he's talking to them about the Holy Spirit and baptism. And so they say, well, we've had John's baptism. And so he explains to them that John's baptism was an Old Testament baptism, and they need a New Testament baptism, and they need to understand the baptism with the Trinitarian name, right? And the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And so the idea that it comes with power from the Holy Spirit. So he explains that to them. He starts to engage in the synagogues for three months at verse 8, and he's reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God, but some of them are hardened. They speak evil of the new covenant, and so Paul departs from them, and he withdraws the disciples. So Paul, pretty efficient, he's splitting churches in three months. So that's how he's going after this. The church won't reform. And so he's encouraging them after they're speaking against the truth to split. You'll see some people that go into churches and the churches are in public sin. They won't repent. They won't correct stuff. They stick around for years saying, I'm trying to reform things. A couple decades later, you say, well, you wasted the prime of your life. Are you still trying to reform it? Or is it time now to go to a church that's biblical, that wants to apply the Bible, as opposed to trying to waste your talents working in churches that are opposed to the Lordship of Christ? So Paul, three months. He had that conflict, and he splits the church. He splits the synagogue, takes the disciples out, has them start a new covenant church that is faithful. So then he spends two years in the school of Tyrannus reasoning. And then from there, there's this, in verse 11, there's unusual miracles. You have these Jewish exorcists that don't believe the gospel, and they try to go and they say, I'm going to use the name of Jesus to get this demon out, and it doesn't work. The demon says, I know Paul, I know Jesus, who are you? And then the guy who's possessed by the demons beats them up, takes their clothes, they run out ashamed, beat, and naked. And so that's the effect of misusing, taking the name of Jesus in vain, as though it were some magical incantation. One of the other things that occurs in Ephesus is the people who repent and believe, there are 50,000 pieces of silver worth of books about the practice of magic that get gathered together and burned. Okay? Now you go, so evil books, should we burn everything that's evil? No. You can take things that are false and study them to be able to understand what's wrong with them, to argue against them, but these are books about the practice of magic. And so the value of them is typically going to be about how do you live a more effective magical life. And so the value in that is very low for studying the opposition to it. So these are just, you know, imagine you've got books about, you know, how to be a better atheist, right? You don't need to study that in order to defeat atheism. You're just going to go, this is a waste of space. I'm going to recycle the thing, right? And so that's not something that you need to deal with. So this idea of the practice of it. And so these things are destroyed to avoid the temptation of going back to them. So verse 20 had this fantastic verse, which is an important verse, and you see it over and over again, this idea that the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. It's the idea that the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. It's actually the word of the Lord, the rule of the word, okay? The rule of the word grows and exercises power. So you think about that. The Word of the Lord is spreading out. The Word of the Lord is filling the country there, filling the city. And what's happening is there is an increasing awareness and knowledge and the practice of it. So how does the Word rule in a place? When it's being put into practice more and more. Okay? So that's the rule of the Word. And we see that happening. as falsehood is being ashamed, and as the truth is being practiced in increasing ways. So, the impact becomes so great, verse 21, we have the riots in Ephesus. How do the riots start? Well, the guys that make silver statues of Artemis, or Diana, this false Greek god, are angry because so many people are getting converted that their sale of silver statues is declining, right? The market impact on selling idols has been significant by the preaching of the gospel. So the silver idol-making union, the guild, gets together and says, we need to use the government to make sure that we can stop the negative market effects on our silver idol production. So that results in a riot. The people screaming over and over again, great is Artemis of the Ephesians as a way of trying to shout down Paul. So we go through that. There's a pragmatic political speech to calm them all down with not too veiled threats that Roman soldiers could come in and push them out of the square if they don't calm down. And so we end with the dismissal of the assembly, and we move on. And so we see again the use of a godless Roman government to protect the church. God uses his enemies for his purposes. These kings, these princes, these governors that do not care about justice are used by God to protect the church. And so that happens again in chapter 19. Now, chapter 20. Chapter 20. The uproar ceases. Paul calls the disciples to himself. He braces them. They go to Macedon. Then they go to Greece. They're planning to go to Syria. This is the thing I was confused about earlier. They're planning to go to Syria. And then there's a plot by Jewish people to harm him in some way. They're angry about what's been happening. So they go back through Macedon again. So this is trying to evade, you know, some sort of plot. And it lists out these guys that are with him. And he's going into Troas, which is Troy. And I think this is an intentional cultural thing that's meant to appeal to the idea of the Iliad. You have, it says, Sopater of Berea, and Aristarchus, and Secundus of Thessalonia, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, Tychicus, and Trophimus of Asia. So why have a list of names? The list of names, these are the heroes of the faith. These are guys that are fighting. They're courageous. They're speaking the truth. They're on the mission. They've left home in Hearth to go and speak the word of God. They're sacrificing for it. And if you read about the Trojan War, the way the Iliad begins is you have this long list of the heroes and the kings and their ships. And so this idea that these are the heroes and they're going along. So this kind of subversion of the Greek mythos that the heroes are these warriors that are fighting unjust wars and seeking their own glory, as opposed to these Christian men who are speaking the truth, and that these are the guys who are deserving of honor. These are the people to emulate, to copy, is these people who are heroes of the faith that are speaking the truth. They're going along and taking this effort with Paul. They're showing bravery, dealing with things like crowds that are trying to harm them and stop them. So, chapter 20, You finish through that. Then, there's again this going to the coast of Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. And you get to the beginning of verse 7 there. On the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread. It's talking about the Lord's Supper. Paul was ready to depart the next day. And he spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. I don't have time to go through the reasoning right now, but this is a significant verse that helps us to understand the way that the Lord's Day is kept now in the New Covenant era, and the idea of the midnight to midnight Sabbath. And we also have Eutychus, who falls asleep while preaching and dies as a result, so stay awake. And he falls out of the window. He gets resurrected. And after he is resurrected, there is a continuing of fellowship and then Paul gets out of town. So then They go to Miletus and at Miletus there is this famous speech where Paul is talking to the elders of Ephesus, the elders of Ephesus. So this is the thing that I think is most important for us to give a little bit of focus to. So let's look at that. This speech, Acts chapter 20, starting at verse 18. And when they had come to him, he said to them, you know, from the first day, that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials, which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews, how I kept nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you. I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, he didn't keep anything back that was helpful. In other words, it's very easy as a teacher to not say things that you think are going to make people unhappy with you that would be helpful to say. Anybody who's a parent here, you've got things you want to say to your kids and sometimes you go, I just don't want them to be mad at me right now and so I'm not going to say this thing. And later on you feel guilty about it because you go, I kind of needed to say it and I should have said it. And sometimes you go back and then you say it again. That thing. There's the same thing for anybody in any leadership position, anybody who's a preacher. There's that concern about holding back stuff that you're worried is going to displease an audience. And so, if you love your flock, and you're not a hireling, you're going to say things that are hard to hear sometimes. Jesus was good at that. And the idea here is that Paul is following the example of Christ, and he doesn't hold back things that are helpful. but he proclaims it. And he teaches publicly and from house to house, which means publicly and privately, right? And so this idea of public teaching and in private teaching. So he's not in private saying, well, look, I really, you know, you need to know this thing, but in public, I need to not say this thing because I got to keep my donor base, right? Publicly and from house to house, he's saying the same stuff. Now, you can sometimes go into more detail, be more specific, whatever from house to house, but the point is, it's not different doctrine. And he's saying the same thing to the Jews and also to the Gentiles, to the Greeks. Saying the same things to different people, not different message to different people. And he's teaching them repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. They need to repent, understand that they're sinners, and they need to be forgiven, and then to believe the gospel that Jesus Christ paid for their sins and that he's ruling now. So that message, he's teaching that. Now, he says he's got to go to Jerusalem. He's been made aware that he's got to go there and he's going to be persecuted when he's there. And so, what we have is him saying, look, I don't count my life dear. I'm gonna finish my race with joy. The ministry is valuable, and I have to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Verse 25, and indeed now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. So he loves these people. He's been there for three years. He's got elders there. It's a well-established church. This would be a really comfortable place to just plant himself and live really well. There are a lot of people who value him. And he's saying, I'm not going to see you anymore. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. If you guys fall, blood's on your hands, because I was clear for three years. So that's my goal as a preacher. My goal is to be like Paul in making sure that if you reject the truth, if you fall into sin, the blood's on your hands and not mine. because I need to speak the truth, because the watchman who's on the wall, who doesn't speak the truth, and somebody falls, is killed, is slain by the enemy, even though they saw the enemy coming, the watchman has the blood on his hands. And if you warn, the blood's on the hands of the person who didn't heed the warning. So that's my goal. Why would I do that? Because I believe there's great blessing in doing this work. And so the discomfort, naturally I prefer people to like me, not dislike me. My tendency. So I go through that discomfort for the sake of the blessing, for the glory of God. So verse 27, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Okay, so earlier on he talked about he taught from the things of the kingdom of God and the whole counsel of God, same thing. That's why the beginning of the book, you remember we looked at the thesis before, it's about the things about the kingdom of God. That's what Jesus taught. we have the whole council. The kingdom is established by the covenant of grace. This kingdom is a covenantal law order. There are ordinances of God, laws of God, and there are officers of God, and those are ruled over by the King Jesus Christ. He is king of the church. He has officers and ordinances, and the scriptures communicate to us the whole of that covenant. And so the whole council of God must be taught. Verse 28, therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, sorry, the church of the Lord and God, that's what the majority text has, which he purchased with his own blood. So why does he care so much about making sure that the church is taken care of by overseers? Well, because he purchased it. God purchased it, the church, with his own blood. There's no higher price than the blood of Jesus Christ. So he pays to free from sin. He pays to free from the wrath of God. The church is purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. For I know this, that after my departure, and here's the warning, and here you as congregants, it is your duty to be watchful for this. Savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves." So what you have to do is watch for false teachers coming in and watch for false teachers rising up. And so it's your duty to examine that. What are the three things you look for when you are looking for this? Well, first of all, generally speaking, you have to look at the qualifications of an elder in 1 Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 through 7. In addition to that, You need to realize that any church that does not have biblical doctrine, according to scripture alone, biblical worship, according to scripture alone, and biblical government, according to scripture alone, is a church with wolves that are leading it. Those are the marks. Doctrine, worship, government, according to scripture alone. That is how you notice the wolves. And when men rise up and try to subvert the doctrine of Scripture, or the worship of Scripture, or the government that is established by Scripture, then you know they are wolves. And that is how you mark them. So, Paul says to watch, therefore, verse 31, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. Three years. Didn't stop. Warning. night and day with tears. So it seems to be a serious matter that he's talking about. So then he talks about the fact that he worked hard to help them to understand that they are heirs of the gospel, that they have been set apart to be holy. And he says, I didn't come here to get your money. And so as a result, he is shown by his labors that you must support the weak. So he worked hard to make money in order to make it shown that he wasn't there to get their money, and also in order to show that he needed to have something that you could have to give to others who are in need. And so he says in verse 35, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And so that's why he gave that example. He also teaches it's important, obviously, to support ministry, to give to help those who are in need, right? And so he's communicating both of those things. But he is communicating why is it that he came and chose to work and to earn his own living rather than to ask for goods from them. Verse 36, And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. Then they all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more, and they accompanied him to the ship. These were people that loved him. because he served them well. He was courageous to them. And if you are a people pleaser, you will not please people nearly so well as if you are a pleaser of God. Because they will know the difference, that you are either trying to con them or you're trying to get something from them. And when you seek to please God rather than them, they will know that you love them more than if you acted like you cared about them more than the truth of God. So, Then from there, we move into verse 21. So, that's the main thing that I was hoping you guys would get a significant amount out of. Instead of the rest of this, we're going to move through faster. 21. Paul's going to Jerusalem, and there's prophecies about him being persecuted in Jerusalem. He keeps going. Starting at verse 15 through 25, There's a plan for Paul to show that he is not attacking the Old Testament, right? He gets to Jerusalem and the believers there are saying, hey, you know, lots of people are saying that you don't like the law of Moses. We have a plan. We have some people who've made a vow. We'd like you to pay for their vows and show up publicly to show that you support the Old Testament. And that way people know you're not preaching against Moses. And Paul agrees to do it. This results in the people rioting, blaming Paul, and Paul getting beaten and arrested. And then when he's being arrested, the Romans come to try to put down this. It's not arrested. It's everybody being beaten by the crowd. It's not really arrested. So then the Romans come and they arrest him. So then they stop him from being beaten. He's being dragged into a Roman building. And he asked for an opportunity to speak. The Romans let him speak. He speaks to the crowd, preaches to them the gospel. And that results in a riot. The Romans say, all right, pull him back into the building. That's done. And so then they beat him. And so they're arresting him. And so the result is, that Paul says, you know, look, I'm a Roman citizen. And so we have chapter 22, verse 25. He was examined under scourging, okay? So it's a pretty severe whipping. His back gets pretty messed up. And so after all this is happening, verse 25, he says, so is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and hasn't been condemned in a court of law? And that question results in the centurion's pretty terrified. He realizes he's violated Roman law. And in this condition, he could potentially be executed for having done what he's done to Paul. And so that gets his attention. He is then given a better treatment from that point forward. At verse 30, What happens is the Sanhedrin, the council of the Jews, comes and they are trying to get him condemned. And the high priest there orders him to be struck when Paul is speaking to the court. So Paul responds by saying, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall, for you sit to judge me according to the law. and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?" And so then the court says, you know, how dare you to speak this way to the high priest? And Paul says, I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest, for it is written, You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people." We talked about this in detail when we were here before. Paul is being sarcastic here, right? Paul is not a total moron. He was aware of the fact that the high priest was somebody in authority, right? It's pretty obvious that this is a court and that the high priest was somebody in authority judging him when he ordered him to be slapped. So Paul's curse on him is followed by them saying, how dare you revile God's high priest? And so that response that Paul has is sarcastic. He knows that this is a ruler of the people. He's saying you're not really a ruler of the people. Because you claim to rule according to God's law, but in reality, you're a tyrant. You're lawless. Right? That's why he said, you claim to judge me according to God's law, and yet you slap me, you beat me, contrary to God's law. How are you different from the Romans? I just got scourged by them. I don't expect them to follow the law of God. You're claiming to be the teachers of God's law. Right? So this is that response that he has. So we have the courage in the face of tyranny. And we have him standing it down and continuing to speak in such a way as to call them to an account. And this should remind you of earlier on when John and Peter said, you know, who should we obey, God or man? You know, we're going to obey God. So that's the continued confrontation against the Sanhedrin, which was both a civil court and a church court at that time. All right. So after that occurs, the Jews decided they want to kill Paul again. He's very good at getting Jews wanting to kill him. This is a skill that must have been developed over long years of practice. And so after that effort to want to kill him, there's a decision by the centurion to get him out of Jerusalem so they won't be killed. He sends him to Felix with a letter saying, hey, I've learned that Paul is a Roman. These people want to kill him. Also, I don't think he's guilty of anything. There's no evidence that he's guilty of anything. But I'm sending him to you. That's in the letter. So then Felix takes him and imprisons him for two years and doesn't know what charges to bring. So afterwards, so verse 25, there's this conversation, you know, and there's the Jews come and they say, he's a treasonous man. He's trying to cause a revolt against Rome in chapter 24. Felix hears this. Felix realizes this is bogus. He's not guilty. So Felix procrastinates, probably wants bribes. After two years, Festus comes and takes him over. Felix has been in office. He just goes, you know, I'm not going to do anything about this. I want the Jews to be happy with me, and maybe Paul will bribe me. Doesn't happen. Festus comes in. Felix goes, this is Festus' problem now. That's fine. It's kind of like the constant passing of the buck with Afghanistan. And so then Festus comes in, and Festus listens. Festus doesn't find there's anything really going on that he's guilty of. And so Paul eventually says, look, you've got to let me go. You're not doing that. So I'm going to appeal to Caesar. I am a Roman citizen. I have the right to appeal to Caesar. I'm going to the next highest court. Send me to the emperor. So Festus is worried about this. So he calls King Agrippa, who's a neighboring king by King Agrippa, chapter 25, verse 27. It seems unreasonable to send a prisoner, but not to specify the charges against him. So could you help me to figure out what the charges are? So this is in law called the principle of habeas corpus. You have a right to know the charges against you. He's been in prison for over two years now. And Festus doesn't even know what charges to say he's being held for. It's not that he just hasn't presented them to Paul. He doesn't know what to say. He's worried about sending him to the higher court, and having the higher court Caesar, who is Festus' boss, and who also can not only just fire him, but could kill him if he wanted to. You could get really good productivity out of your workers if you have the right to kill them. So Festus is just going, what do I do? What do I say here? Paul then presents to Agrippa and Bernice, who's the queen, and then to Festus. He's presenting here, he presents his life, he explains his own history, and he explains the gospel. And towards the end of it, Agrippa is in a place where he's kind of, he's in a tight spot because this argument in favor of the gospel is being presented and he's in front of a bunch of people and he's worried about losing the favor of the Jews by becoming a Christian. And so he says, you know, you almost persuaded me to be a Christian but, you know, You don't expect me to do it this fast, do you? And so Paul just says, I expect you and everybody here to become a Christian right now. You should do this. Repent. And so then they just end the trial because they just don't want to sit there in that anymore. So they get out of there and then they start to talk and they say, well, It seems like he's not guilty of anything, and if he hadn't appealed to Caesar, we probably would have just let him go. I want you to think about the absurdity of that statement. If this guy had not appealed to a higher court because of the unjust ruling that we're having of continuously keeping him in prison, then we could have let him go. There's nothing in Roman law that prevents them from just saying, you're free, we've dropped the charges, or we're saying that you're not guilty. Appeals only occur if you have an adverse judgment against you, okay? You can't appeal a positive judgment in your favor. You can only appeal an adverse judgment. And so if they just say you're free to go, this is done. So this is like nonsense, tyrant excuse making. So it's sort of how state governments often use the federal government as an excuse to do tyranny, right? You say, well, if the federal government had told us that we have to let people kill babies, then we could stop that. Well, how about you just stop it and then tell them, come and stop us from stopping, right? That's not gonna work in the sight of God. So you cannot use other people's tyranny when you're a governor as an excuse, and there's no tyranny stopping. them from letting them go. Agrippa doesn't have an excuse. Festus doesn't have an excuse. Felix didn't have an excuse. The Sanhedrin didn't have an excuse. They're making up excuses. Now, chapter 26. That's where there's the giving of the gospel and of his own history. Chapter 27. So now, one last thing I want to point out before we move into the travel. Verse 31. And when they had gone aside, they talk among themselves, saying, this man is doing nothing deserving of death and chains. Death or chains. Then Agrippa said to Festus, this man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. So there's the quote of their discussion. So chapter 27, this is about the transport to Rome. And we spent time going over the whole great storm that occurred and all the exciting things that happened on the ship there. They shipwrecked onto Malta. You remember they cut off the rudders, the last thing they're getting rid of is the boats going in. You know the boat's not gonna get used anymore when you get rid of the rudder, right? So that landing onto Malta. Everybody gets off the ship, they land into Malta, they swim on, they get on flotsam, they're floating on, everybody just gets there, they're all alive. And then in Malta, you have all these things that occurred like the viper biting Paul, and he doesn't die. The guys are looking on saying, oh, this snake, this is a dangerous snake. We know what happens when this snake bites you. So they're saying, is this guy going to just fall over dead? Is he going to blow up like a balloon? Let's take bets. And so they're trying to figure out which way he's going to die, and he doesn't die. First, they think he gets bit by a snake. He must have been a murderer. God was trying to kill him at sea. He didn't die at sea. Probably a murderer. The snake's getting him because he got away from the sea. Then, when he doesn't die from the snake bite, they say, probably a god. Paul's probably a god. Only explanation we can come up with for why he didn't die when the snake bit him. Paul's response is the same as every time people think he's a god. He says, I'm not a god, but let me tell you about God. And so we spend time on Malta. Lots of people get saved. And then, things move along faster. He gets onto a ship, it's a larger ship, it's got the two brothers as the front of the ship, and then they move on to Italy. They land in Italy, they're moving along the road, we're in chapter 28, and they are moving along the road to Rome, and God kindly sends people to encourage Paul, fellow believers that are hearing about him. He gets to Apiae Forum and the three inns, and he thanks God and he takes courage as these people are coming. And so we talked about how it's similar to how when Luther was on his way to Worms to be tried and the people were coming to encourage him that he was being encouraged by them. The people of God have a powerful role in encouraging the leaders of the people of God, right? The leaders of the people of God are human beings. They can go low, They can be sad, they can be depressed, they can be weak, their resources are limited. Coming alongside, praying for them, blessing them, encouraging them, telling them to take strength, saying that you're by their side. It's powerful to help them to be able to continue the fight. Paul gets into Rome, and there we have, starting at verse 16, okay? So we're going to end on this section, and then we're done with the book of Acts. Verse 16, now when he came to Rome, The centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard. But Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him, right? He's given maximal freedom here. He's got a house and he's got a soldier that's living with him. And so as a result, he's in this good condition. Verse 17, it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them, men and brethren, though I have done nothing against our people, the Jews, or the customs of our fathers, Yet, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go, because there was no cause for putting me to death. That's a pretty good summary of everything that just happened. Very concise. Verse 19. But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation, For this reason, therefore, I have called for you to see you and speak with you. Because for the hope of Israel, I am bound with this chain." So what's the hope of Israel? The hope of Israel is the Messiah coming to free them from their oppressors. It is Jesus Christ as King ruling. It is Him coming to pay for their sins. It is God converting. It is God preserving. It is God causing us to grow in godliness and it is causing the church to grow and to become more effective and to fill the earth so that the world is transformed into a more glorious place so that the knowledge of God fills the earth as the waters cover the sea that's the hope of Israel and that's what he's preaching For this reason, therefore, I have called you to see you and speak with you, because for the hope of Israel, I am bound with this chain." Verse 21, then they said to him, we neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you. Right? We haven't heard anything about you. But, verse 22, but we desire to hear from you what you think concerning this sect of Christianity. We know that it is spoken against everywhere. So that's a great opening for Paul. He tells them, so when they had appointed him a day, many came to hear him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God. So here we have, remember at the beginning it's about the kingdom of God, and now the summary. Everything's Paul teaching, this is about the kingdom of God. Persuading them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets from morning till evening. Because the whole day he's going through the Bible saying, look, Moses teaches this, the prophets teach this. 24. And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. Right? Over and over again, he goes to the synagogue. Some believe, some don't believe. The same thing happens in Rome. 25. So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word. The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our father, saying, Go to this people and say, Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them. Verse 28. Therefore, let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it. Paul goes to these churches, these old covenant churches, teaches them the new covenant, and there's a split in the church. And he says, some of you who don't believe, you not believing is prophesied. And now that we've split this local congregation, we go to the Gentiles here to preach the gospel. You seek reform in the churches, and when the reform will not come, then you focus on going to the unconverted. That is the order. Judgment comes first to the house of God. Verse 29, and when they had said these words, when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. It's a beautiful thing. Disputing about doctrine is a beautiful thing. Disputing about the color of the carpet or something like that, not a beautiful thing. That's contention. That's divisiveness. Disputing about doctrine is how you grow in godliness. And so the church is brought to greater reformation and greater clarity. And this is a good thing. So this disputing about the doctrine results in verse 30. Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him. Beloved, we are in a condition where we have more freedom than Paul. and we should be preaching the kingdom of God. And we should seek to bring about reformation in the churches and bring people who are unbelievers to repentance and to see them brought into the church. And this is the work that is done by the reign of Christ. We are guaranteed that we will succeed. The Great Commission is given for the purpose to tell us to go and conquer the world. Jesus is with us, we win. Comments, questions, objections from the voting members. I know that you got through a whole lot of content in a short period of time. Is there anything that, having done a review of the whole book, is there anything that you missed or thought that you would like to just, I don't know, emphasize briefly that you think would help us? I cannot remember when I went through Paul's teaching at Athens, when he was teaching and quoting from the Stoics and the Epicureans, he says, In God, we live and move and have our being. And I cannot remember whether I taught at the time on the idea that everything exists in the mind of God. And I want to emphasize that. It was something that as I was doing my review, I specifically felt convicted. I was like, I don't remember if I taught this, which means I probably didn't emphasize it enough. That God is eternal. Everything that's created exists by the Word of God. God doesn't speak His Word into some space that pre-exists. God speaks His Word in the sense that He thinks and causes. In Him, we live and move and have our being. God didn't make the universe and then fill it, right? Because there's not some space outside of God. He's omnipresent. So in Him, we live and move and have our being. And so the decree of God, in the mind of God, the fiat of God, where He makes and governs, exists in God. And so this idea that our existence, our maintenance, our very being is dependent upon God, And it's maintained in him. And so his mind is the upholder of all things. The word of his power is that which creates, maintains, and causes light to go forth. And so that power of God, the omnipresence of God, that reality was something I felt I probably didn't give proper emphasis to. And so the kingdom of God is the spreading of the knowledge of God in that space. that he has created, right? He is filling that which he has by his Word created with his Word by knowledge. So that there is the knowledge of God that fills that which was made by the Word of God. So the Word of God is being known by that which is made by the Word of God. And so this idea that the Word of God is going and filling that which is made by the Word of God. That is something that I think is the emphasis here. The reign of Christ is about the Word of God going forth to fill that which is made by the Word of God. And Christ is the Word. He is the Word. He's the eternal Word. He's the eternal mind of God. And so He is speaking into this space and He is ruling. His church is filling it. And there is this transformative power of the Word as it goes forth. So that idea, putting the background, the underlying element of the omnipresence of God is something that I think I did not give proper emphasis to. And it's a glorious truth. So thank you for that question. Great. Anything else? Okay. Thank you. Let's pray. Father, we give praise to You. You've given us the truth of Your Word, that the Holy Scriptures have been preserved, that they are inerrant, that they are not only inerrant, but they are infallible. They cannot err. And so we ask that You would cause us to value Your Word, to believe Your Word, to seek to know it more deeply, to speak of it to each other, to encourage each other, and that You would bless us now as we are about to sing Your Word, that we would speak to each other in these Psalms and encourage each other and teach each other as we sing by each other's sides. We ask that You would help us to value, honor Your Word, to do what is commanded in Your Word, And we ask, Father, that you would bring great glory to the name of Jesus Christ, that the knowledge of Him would be brought to all the nations, that every nation would bow before Christ, that their kings would bow before Him, and that there would be a great acknowledgement of the Lordship of Christ and of the fact that He is the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the earth, that our sins are paid for and that we are clean because of Christ's death. And we pray this in Christ's holy name.